Due to the limited nature of storage space in a typical commercial or residential building, it is common for owners to install free standing or wall mounted storage systems of various sizes to accommodate an organized and space saving method of storing a variety of items including but not limiting to such things as boxes and containers. Because of the durability and ease of use and organization, four-edged plastic containers, bins or totes have become popular among owners seeking to place items for storage. Indeed, these containers are often somewhat transparent to allow owners to easily identify the contents within the container and/or allows owners to easily label each container on the outside. In particular, containers with lids or covers are most popular in the industry because it allows individuals an area underneath the lid/cover to grip and carry the containers, whereby protecting the contents inside. The top lid of these containers are also useful in the fact that they allow users to stack containers on top of each other whereby conserving valuable storage space.
However, these free standing or wall mounted storage systems, although useful, take away from the usable/living work space of a room. Therefore, a variety of storage systems have attempted to solve this problem by attempting to utilize the “dead” areas often found in spaces occupying underneath ceilings of garages and rooms. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,406,895, 6,237,277, 7,000,783, 4,998,630, 6,976,595, 6,439,405, 6,216,993, 6,550,878 (herein incorporated by reference) are examples of devices that attempt to provide overhead storage solutions. However, these present devices suffer from various limitations including, among other things, being difficult to install and relatively expensive. In addition, many of the present devices fail to maximize the vacant “dead” space underneath ceilings and walls because of inefficient design and operation. Further, because of the above limitations, expansion of storage space becomes difficult and expensive, which is not desirable and reduces the ability of the owner to effectively and efficiently expand their storage space by utilizing the unused space underneath ceilings.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not suitable for incorporating the advantages of a storage system that provides an inexpensive storage system, allows for easy installation and maximizes the vacant space underneath ceilings and/or walls.
In these respects, the storage system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides a storage system that is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art storage systems either alone or in combination thereof.